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Loading...Water a Human Right, Now What?
It is a well known fact that a lack of drinking water can kill a person in a short amount of time. Why, then, did it take until May 31, 2012 for a Canadian government to recognize water and sanitation as a basic human right?
Well, just a few months ago, the Harper government was fighting to remove the provision about water and sanitation from discussions at RIO+20.
In an interview with Embassy, Environment Minister Peter Kent said the government was uneasy about “the scope and the content” of this right. Perhaps they should be most concerned that this declaration will put the state of many First Nations reserves in the spotlight.
Last year saw national outrage over the lack of adequate housing in Attawapiskat, which resulted in calls for better housing, better access to education and a better life for Aboriginal, First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities. So far in 2012, Canada has received a report from the UN food rapporteur declaring one million Aboriginal and 55,000 Inuit are in a desperate situation when it comes to food security (a report that was panned by the government, but applauded by the Assembly of First Nations), and another UN report criticizing the difference in the situation on First Nations reserves and the rest of the country, suggesting that many of Canada’s indigenous peoples live in Third World conditions.
Will this new dedication to water and sanitation as a human right, will anything change in our own backyard? A program to improve water conditions on reserves is moving forward, along with planned improvement to education infrastructure, but a 2 percent cap on any increase to reserve spending is still in place and Aboriginal Affairs is seeing cuts to their staffing (like almost every other government department).
Canadians took notice when they saw the children of Attawapiskat living in shacks without heat or running water, but now they have to be shown the rest of the communities who are facing the same situation, with high levels of disease, addiction and suicide because governments, for decades, have been telling these kids that they’re less than.
Shawn Atleo, the national Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, seems to be optimistic about improvements to access to proper sanitation and potable water, and this point in our history is a great opportunity for First Nations youth, if they seize the opportunity to learn the skills Canada’s work force is lacking, and if they get the help they need from the rest of the country’s population.
Related Stories:
Winter Arriving Faster Than Help in Attawapiskat Crisis
Occupy Protestors Evicted From Tents, First Nations People Forced Into Tents
Federal Government Keeping First Nations Children Threadbare
Read more: canada, human rights, politics, water
Photo Credit: Lee Brimelow
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+ add your ownIs rain water safe enough if there are major sources of airborne pollution in the area?
Clean water is essential to survival and we must all take action on the issue for our own personal safety. Drinking rain water where it is available is completely safe if it is colected properly and if there is fear of impurities boiling it will usually take care of it. We grew up on rain water and no one died from consuming it. The key is proper storage.
If the Inuit are Canadian citizens and if Canada subsidizes water projects for its non-Inuit citizens, it would only be fair. Water systems may well be one component of making the original owners whole.
Please consider if water were a human right. Must the world transport fresh water to Sudan? Must it provide a new home for every Sudanese who cannot find water? Alternately, was the culture responsible for limiting its fertility to match available resources long before people started to die? That is the only permanent way to protect such “human rights”.
Consider the large families in the very countries that suffer resource shortages. Must we provide for them?
Donor fatigue is restoring the historical and biblical model in which parents divide their existing resources among their best offspring and sell off or expel the rest. Already the worldwide slave trade is driven by the sellers, not by the buyers.
In Europe farms were once divided into units too small to feed a family. That dismal Europe was redeemed by the great plague. Fewer people, no longer starving had the resources and time to support a blooming of both the sciences and the arts from which we still benefit today.
Much of today’s world does the opposite. As common resources are devoted to subsidizing mere subsistence, less can support long-term goals or higher callings. The U.S. which once supported world-class art, science and even a manned space program can no longer do any of those th
Berny P. Who do you think is doing the damage, the people? Pick up a magazine, watch a documentary, ask your neighbours; or how about removing those blindfolds smacked on you by the same people who will eventually consume you when their other resources have been spent. Good luck buddy:)
These people care about their water supply and are not going to go to the trouble of contacting the press and government before they contact the actual perpetrator.
the concerns about water were being expressed more than 10 years ago, but largely ignored by the general population. As with most things, humans react to environmental issues only when it is almost too late. In some places apparently it already is too late, and water has already been commodified. How sad.
Water rights are being secretly gobbled up by private enterprise. In the future expect to pay huge sums for water. Where I live water is already monopolized. You are not allowed to drill your own well here in Norwich but instead MUST purchase water from Norwich Public Utilities - And it is EXPENSIVE! If you want to open a restaurant here the Water/Sewer connection fee is a whopping $20,000.00!!! Then you have to pay an exorbitant monthly fee for water. And you have no choice. Expect this to be the norm in the future if we sit back and say nothing.
Clean water is becoming a very rare resource and I believe that in the not too distant future we will be fighting over fresh clean water like we fight over oil today. Fidelity Investments appears to be looking for ways to trade water resources. That is just one reason why we should be protecting the resource and stop polluting and fracking for example which has been demonstrated to contaminate ground water.
More and more people are realizing they should be self-sufficient in their water purification. Here is the most powerful and economical system, gravity-fed, requires no electricity: http://www.consciouswater.ca/
Robin, I agree with you 100%. I am ashamed of our government, past and present that they have let this go on for so long. Harper makes promises but doesn't keep them. Not all Canadians feel as I do however, they blame the natives and that is truly sad and wrong. How do you get out of a deep hole without the help of caring people?
NOT SURE ABOUT A RIGHT......
IF PEOPLE DO SOMETHING TO MAKE THEIR VILLAGES CLEAN AND WORK TO HAVE CLEAN WATER ALL WELL AND GOOD
BUT IF THEY STAND THERE ,MAKE A MESS OF THE PLACE...DO NOT LIFT A FINGER TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN....LIKE IN MANY PLACES IN INDIA AND AFRICA...THEN....IT IS THEIR FAULT...NO BODY ELSE...
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